Worker Gear Isn't Equipment Safety Guard: Ohio High Court

Law360, New York (November 28, 2012, 4:49 PM EST) -- The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that an employer's failure to require an employee to wear personal protective gear does not constitute a deliberate removal of an equipment safety guard that can trigger liability under state law.

In a ruling issued Nov. 20, the state Supreme Court reversed an appellate court win for Larry Hewitt, a former employee of the electrical-utility construction contractor L.E. Myers Co. who was injured on the job. The ruling concluded that because the protective gear Hewitt was not wearing when he...